


whatever i did after has not happened yet

by sophiegaladheon



Category: The Greenhollow Series - Emily Tesh
Genre: M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Yuletide, spoilers for Drowned Country
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sophiegaladheon/pseuds/sophiegaladheon
Summary: Henry and Tobias return to Greenhollow Hall.
Relationships: Tobias Finch/Henry Silver
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	whatever i did after has not happened yet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Allie01](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Allie01/gifts).



> Happy Yuletide, Allie01!
> 
> The title is from a poem by Javier Zamora.

It was a foolish thing to do and he was all the more the fool for doing it without even so much as a protest. But Henry had never been good at saying no to his mother, and after spending six months crammed into his mother’s house with her, Maud Lindhurst, and Tobias without room so much as to sneeze without inconveniencing one another, he was ready to take any excuse to spend a few days away.

Truly, more the fool him.

When he had last seen them, the grounds of Greenhollow Hall had been a veritable ruin, most of it of his own making. The Wood had encroached with the sturdy determination of an immutable tide, and the house itself had been far from habitable. 

Now, as he approached the place once more, Henry gaped. The hall was—not gone, for he could still clearly see the remains where the building had once stood. It was a ruin. He had thought it was a ruin before, with the damage he himself had wrought, but no. Now, in scarcely half a year, Greenhollow Hall looked as though it had been abandoned and left to ruin for centuries. 

“I somewhat doubt,” Henry murmured, “that we shall find mother’s book.”

Tobias nodded; his expression unreadable. Henry watched him out of the corner of his eye as they moved towards the ruined house. He wondered if Tobias felt strange, to be once more in this place, in these woods.

And yet it was not Tobias but Henry who shuddered, a peculiar feeling of dread creeping over him as they walked closer and closer to the remains of Greenhollow Hall, now more half a pile of rubble than any actual sort of proper building. Henry could feel sharp points of pain in his hands as the edges of his fingernails cut into his palms. His breaths came fast, puffing clouds of frost in the winter air. He had been a fool to come here.

Slowly, softly, he felt the faintest touch of fingers along the edge of his clenched fist. With a greater effort than he would have liked to admit, Henry relaxed his hand to allow Tobias to slide his own against his palm and gently squeeze.

Henry let out a shaky breath. “I am being foolish,” he said firmly, though more to himself than to Tobias.

“We need not stay,” Tobias said, his voice a calm reassuring pitch for Henry’s uneasy mind to focus on. “Your mother did not truly mean for you to come here and dig the book out of the ruins.”

“She asked to borrow my copy and it wasn’t one of the ones I brought with me,” Henry said, feeling a bit steadier and surer of himself now. He’d left a significant portion of his library behind when he’d left the Hall and the Wood behind, and even still the guest room he shared with Tobias was crammed with books piled on all the flat surfaces, including the floor. And yet, even after tearing through every pile, he’d been forced to conclude that the one his mother wished to borrow had been one of those left in the ruin of Greenhollow Hall. That was his mistake. It was an important text. He should have brought it. But he didn’t, so now he had to find it. “Let’s find it and leave, as soon as we can.”

Tobias looked as though he was about to argue, but Henry hurried off in the direction of the remains of the library before he had to counter any objections. 

It was an unseasonably warm day for what was, in truth, the depths of February. Although the sky was grey and clouded there was no show, only the last damp remnants of ice clinging to the edges of the stones, dripping quietly in the weak sunlight. Henry could feel a film of sweat forming on his face and building up under his collar as he worked, sifting through the depressing piles of abandoned books.

His hands shook, and his stomach swam with nausea. He looked out over the Wood with a growing dread. It was ridiculous, he chided himself, he had no reason to be behaving in this way. He was being a fool.

Henry just about jumped out of his skin when Tobias laid a hand on his shoulder. “This the one you’re looking for?” he asked, holding out a leather-bound book, its binding covered with a faint crust of lichen.

“What? Um, yes,” Henry said, checking the title as he tried to shake off his unease. “Wonderful. Let’s go.”

If Henry took the path back to the main road at a speed nearly fast enough to be considered a run, Tobias didn’t comment, his long legs carrying him along at a steady pace.

Once firmly ensconced in the carriage on the way back to his mother’s house, Henry slumped into his seat, exhausted, as the tension that had been plaguing him since they’d departed on their journey left him all at once. He slid sideways until he hit Tobias and stayed there, his head resting on Tobias’ shoulder.

“It was foolish of you to come back,” Tobias chided, echoing Henry’s earlier thoughts.

“I’m being ridiculous,” Henry muttered sulkily, barely loud enough to be heard over the rattle of the carriage. “There is nothing there for me to be afraid of. _You_ can go and be just fine.” He glanced up and Tobias. “Are you fine?” 

Tobias gave a short laugh. “Oh, I’m just fine. The Wood and I . . .” He trailed off. “I don’t have anything that I need to worry about. The Wood is done with me and I with it. But you, you still carry a part of it with you. Not the way you did before when you served it,” he hastened to say at Henry’s alarmed expression, “But you haven’t made your peace with it, with what you were, with what it meant. It frightens you; I think.”

“It does,” Henry murmured. It wasn’t something he cared to admit, but it was there, like a child’s loose tooth, unstable and impossible to ignore. The unbearable juxtaposition of eternity crammed back into the bottle that was his mind. Not something he cared to yank on today.

They were quiet for a long time, nothing but the sounds of the carriage, the horses, and the occasional passing of traffic to interrupt their silence. “You need a project,” Tobias finally said. “You’ve spent too long sitting around in your own head.”

Henry burst out laughing. “What? Oh, no, you sound like my mother.”

“A remarkable woman.”

“She is that.” Henry sighed. Tobias was right, of course. He usually was, the infuriating man. And he was certainly both a proponent and an example of the benefits of a busy life. “Maude is going to Aberdeen next month to continue her paranormal investigations,” he said warily. “Will you be accompanying her?”

“No,” Tobias said firmly, “But you should.”

Henry sighed, but he wasn’t truly cross, as Tobias leaned down to press a gentle kiss on his forehead. The carriage continued to rattle along, and, worn from his day and comforted by Tobias’ reassuring presence, Henry eventually fell asleep.


End file.
